Self-operative fire extinguisher



June 20, 1967 HIROSHI KATAOKA SELF-OPERATIVE FIRE EXTINGUISHER Filed Oct. 29, 1964 INVENTOR HlROSI-H KATAOKA ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,326,295 SELF-OPERATIVE FIRE EXTINGUISHER Hiroshi Kataoka, 160 Muramatsu-cho, Iyo-Mishima-shi, Japan Filed Oct. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 407,418 Claims priority, application Japan, Mar. 24, 1964, 39/ 15,910 2 Claims. (Cl. 169-26) This invention relates generally to fire extinguishers and more particularly to an improved self-operative type of fire extinguisher capable of using liquid and solid chemical extinguishants.

In the prior art, one type of dry solid chemical extinguishant, such as sodium bicarbonate, was used to extinguish fire by manually throwing or scattering the extinguishant at the base of the fire. This method of extinguishing fires is clumsy, dangerous to the operator and when used is often too late to prevent spreading of the fire.

There are, of course, self-operative types of fire extinguishers, but they are mainly sprinkler systems, spraying water or other liquids on a fire when a certain temperature is reached. These systems are expensive and difficult to install and maintain and are unattractive. Moreover, these types of fire extinguishers are disposed some distance away from the source of a fire, and hence, are not instantaneous in response.

It is desirable to have a simple, inexpensive, self-operative type of fire extinguisher which can be used with both solid and liquid extinguishants and which can be disposable at close distance to a potential source of fire.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to reduce the complexity and cost of self-operative fire extinguishers.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple, self-operative fire extinguisher which can be placed close to a potential source of fire so that the fire can be quickly extinguished before it has a chance to spread.

A further object of this invention is to increase the flexibility of such fire extinguishers by enabling its use for dry and liquid extinguishants.

Further objects of this invention are to enable the rapid simple and inexpensive manufacture of self-operative fire extinguishers.

These and other objects of this invention are attained in an illustrative embodiment thereof which briefly comprises a closed bag of sack of a material which is contractable by heat of a certain temperature, and an extinguishant filled in the bag such that upon reaching the certain temperature the sack will contract and burst and scatter the extinguishant over a fire to put it out.

When a liquid extinguishant is used, a float and a sharp pin attached thereto is disposed in the sack. When a normal temperature is present (below the critical contracting temperature for the sack), the float holds the pin away from the inner surface of the sack. However, when the temperature increases above the critical temperature, the sack will contract appropriately and cause the pin to pierce the sack and cause its rupture. The sack will then burst and spread the liquid over the fire.

A dry or solid extinguishant which is used herein may be sodium bicarbonate and the liquid extinguishant may be carbon tetrachloride. Use of sulphuric acid with the sodium bicarbonate would increase its effectiveness by increasing the carbonic acid gas which is emitted at the temperature of the fire. The sack may be made of polyethylene or other resinous material.

A feature of this invention is a closed sack which is con-tractable by heat, filled with a dry or liquid extinguishant, the sack being contractable by heat at or above ice a certain temperature until it bursts and causes the extinguishant to be scattered.

Another feature is the use of a sharp pin attached to a float and inserted inside the sack with a liquid extinquishant so that upon contraction of the sack the pin will rupture the sack to cause scattering of the liquid.

A further feature of this invention is use of polyethylene as the material of the sack and either carbon tetrachloride or sodium bicarbonate as the extinguishant.

These and other objects, features and advantages of this invention may be more readily understood from the consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the attached drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view depicting an illustrative embodiment of this invention utilizing a solid extinguishant; and

FIG. 2 depicts an alternative illustrative embodiment of this invention using'a liquid extinguishant and a float and pin arrangement for rupturing the sack upon contraction thereof.

Referring now to the drawing, there is depicted in FIG. 1 a wall 3 having a plurality of holes or closets 4 therein. The wall may be of a flammable material, or itself be inflammable and located close to a potential source of fire. Within the holes 4 are placed a sack or sacks 1 holding a dry, solid extinguishant 2. Since the wall is shown in a plan view it may not be readily apparent that the sack is closed; however, a closed sack is desirable in order that upon contraction the extinguishant contained therein will not escape but will upon bursting of the sack will be caused to scatter. The dry extinguishant 2 can be sodium bicarbonate or other suitable extinguishants. The sack 1 is of a material which is contractable with increasing heat, such as, for example, polyethylene or other suitable resinous materials. A desirable characteristic of the sack material is that it be contractable at about C., as with polyethylene, and that further increases in temperature will cause the sack to contract further until the sack bursts. Of course, the extinguishant, whether dry, solid or liquid, must not contract corre spondingly. Thus, it is necessary that the sack contract for increasing heat and that the dry extinguishant used in the sack not contract correspondingly in order that the contraction of the sack and the non-contraction of the dry extinguishant together will cause bursting of the sack and scattering of the dry extinguishant.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a fire burns or heats up area 11 to a temperature sufiicient to cause the sack 1 to contract against the dry extinguishant 2. As the heat increases and the contraction increases against the dry extinguishant, at a certain point the sack 1 will burst and cause the dry extinguishant 2 to be scattered into the fire area.

Advantageously, the sack and dry extinguishant combination can be small in size and hence be inserted at almost any location in a wall, furniture or various other structures very close to a potential source of fire. Thus, when a fire is just starting and is close to one of the arrangements depicted in FIG. 1 it will cause the closest sack to burst immediately and scatter the extinguishant into the fire to cause its extinguishing before the fire has time to spread.

As a further advantage, the elements used in the embodiments are plentiful, inexpensive and the embodiment can be manufactured very inexpensively.

FIG. 2 illustrates an alternative embodiment of this invention having a sack 5 similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1, liquid extinguishant 6, a float 8 and a sharp pin 7 attached to the float 8. The sack is attached by a holder 10 to wall 9. The holder 10' can be glued or attached in any suitable manner to the sack 5.

The liquid can be of carbon tetrachloride or other suitable liquid extinguishants.

Where the temperature of the surrounding area is sulficiently high, the sack will be caused to contract. This will compress the liquid 5 and cause float 8 and attached pin 7 to make contact with the inside of the sack 5. When the heat contracts the sack some more, the pin 7 will puncture the sack 5. This will cause the sack 5 to burst and scatter the liquid 6 immediately to extinguish a neighboring fire.

It has been found that loading the bottom of the sack with parafiin 12 or other suitable material which is sensitive to heat will increase the efliciency of this device by causing it to burst in a faster manner.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1 Where sodium bicarbonate can be used, at about 300 C. the temperature of a fire, the chemical will turn into gaseous carbonic acid which acts to smother the fire. The sodium bicarbonate can'be mixed with sulphuric acid to increase its effectiveness in extinguishing fires by increasing the carbonic acid gas output of the mixture.

While the specific embodiments of this invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that they are merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and various modifications may be made thereon without departing from the scope and spirit thereof.

What is claimed is;

1. A fire extinguisher comprising a closed sack comprising a heat contractable material,

a substantially non-contractable substantially liquid form fire extinguishing substance disposed to partially fill said sack,

paraffin means coating the bottom of said sack, and

float means disposed on top of said liquid substance and within said sack, and

puncturing means attached to said float means such that a predetermined amount of heat causes said sack to contract and force said liquid substance to substantially fill said sack thereby causing said puncturing means to rupture said sack and scatter said liquid substance.

2. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said liquid substance comprises carbon tetrachloride.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4,855 4/ 1872 Lapham 169--2t6 2,006,300 6/ 1935 Meigs 169-36 2,711,346 6/1955 Irwin et a1. 239-57 2,857,971 10/1958 Ferris 16926 2,917,116 12/1959 Wyant 16936 3,062,373 11/ 1962 Reynolds 20665 EVERETT W. KIRBY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A FIRE EXTINGUISHER COMPRISING A CLOSED SACK COMPRISING A HEAT CONTRACTABLE MATERIAL, A SUBSTANTIALLY NON-CONTRACTABLE SUBSTANTIALLY LIQUID FORM FIRE EXTINGUISHING SUBSTANCE DISPOSED TO PARTIALLY FILL SAID SACK, PARAFFIN MEANS COATING THE BOTTOM OF SAID SACK, AND FLOAT MEANS DISPOSED ON TOP OF SAID LIQUID SUBSTANCE AND WITHIN SAID SACK, AND PUNCTURING MEANS ATTACHED TO SAID FLOAT MEANS SUCH THAT A PREDETERMINED AMOUNT OF HEAT CAUSES SAID SACK TO CONTRACT AND FORCE SAID LIQUID SUBSTANCE TO SUBSTANTIALLY FILL SAID SACK THEREBY CAUSING SAID PUNCTURING MEANS TO RUPTURE SAID SACK AND SCATTER SAID LIQUID SUBSTANCE. 